Forty-six states have committed to one of the two consortia that are designing electronic standardized tests to align with the Common Core State Standards. The curriculum standards and accompanying tests are slated to roll out in the 2014-15 school year. Education Week reports that at least one state (Georgia) has withdrawn its commitment after seeing the price tag.
The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC), of which Connecticut is a member, consists of 24 member states and released its pricing in March 2013. The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), which now consists of 21 states after Georgia’s departure, released its pricing in July 2013. Both consortia released these per-student cost estimates after securing the multi-state commitments.
SBAC claims that its pricing estimates are less expensive than what two-thirds of its 24 member states already spend on student testing. (It is unknown if Connecticut is among those states that will save.)
As an SBAC member, Connecticut has two cost options. One, which includes only summative tests that are given during the last quarter of the school year, is priced at $22.50 per student. The other, which includes summative tests as well as interim and formative tests, costs $27.30 per student.
The cost projections include both the cost of services that SBAC will provide (developing test items and administration platform) and states will provide themselves or through vendors (delivering the test, providing help-desk services, scoring the tests).
In comparison, PARCC estimates that its summative tests will cost $29.50 per student, which is the only price option available. This cost exceeds what more than 50% of its member states currently pay. Unlike SBAC, however, PARCC will score the tests.
